Abstract : Three studies examine the issue of retrieval selectivity: how do people organize their retrieval of social information when more than one organizing cognitive structure is present? Retrieval organization was assessed through categorical clustering in free recall. Study 1 found that with unfamiliar persons subjects manifested a distinct preference for descriptor-based organization over person-based organization. In study 2 preference for descriptor organization was found to be mediated by the familiarity of the persons. The tendency to organize retrieval around persons increased and the tendency to organize it around descriptor categories decreased when the persons were familiar. In study 3, analogous results were found with respect to person and context-based organizations of free recall. Together, studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that a processing objectives manipulation designed to encourage a person-based organization may be effective only when persons already constitute the dominant mode of organization. (Author)